Stoicism is the new in thing
by angrypixels
Summary: One incident changed the life of a few... and affected the mentality of too many to count. Causalities include, but not limited to, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura. Warning, please avoid one hyper Uchiha, one pessimistic yet aspiring blond artist and one violent-poker-faced-pink-haired female or you may be permanently scarred for life. Non-Mass. OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Stoicism is the new in thing** by angrypixels

Summary: Where Itachi is a sweet, gentle medic, Sasuke is a touchy feely needer, Naruto is a self-acclaimed artist with a fake smile..and Sakura is suffering from permanent facial muscle paralysis.

Genre: AU. Non-mass. Obvious OC.

Paring: Sakura/Itachi.

Chapter 1 - It all began…

It all began on a fine, sunny afternoon.

The trees were green, the sky was blue and the wind was gently blowing the wispy clouds across the horizon. Even the birds were singing, the rivers were running, the rabbits bouncing…

It was obvious to all that it was a very beautiful day.

And a fateful one too.

Konoha was a large shinobi village with majestic gates that could be spotted miles away. However, it did not mean that all of its villagers lived within the confines of its wooden walls. Some choose to live away from the hustle of ninja village life and choose a more quiet life outside the walls farming or taking up some trade.

A cheerful tune hummed softly in the vicinity of a well worn path leading out of Konoha. A small figure wearing a bright red cape skipped as she held a basket in her hand. The figure did not wear a hood, so anyone could see a small round face with bouncy swirls of pink floss and bright green eyes. An innocent smile adorned the face of this small child who was in fact a girl and not a day over 7 years of age. Why, it was just like a picture out of a child's tale. Little….Pink Cape? Or was it Petite Cotton Candy Shawl? Some hippo or giraffe with a bad toothache and some mean uncle who ate people were also involved …or something along those lines.

Anyhow. Moving on.

It was a sweet scene. And coincidentally, this little girl had a sweet name. Sakura. Haruno Sakura.

Sakura was on her merry way to collect some pastries her aunt had prepared. Her aunt made the best-est pastries with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and all sorts of sweet fruits stuffed inside. Oooh. Just thinking about it made her mouth water. Sakura giggled happily and continued to sing her merry tune. Her mother allowed her to embark on this journey due to the fact that she had been this way so many times. The path was a popular one and was frequently patrolled by shinobis. No enemy nin would be stupid to stray along this well guarded road.

Soon, Sakura saw the village entrance and promptly turned left at the fork of the village to the forest where her aunt resided.

It is a well known and obvious fact that Sakura Haruno was not the only child in the world. Another child of roughly the same age as Sakura was in fact in the same area.

To be correct, he was in the same forest and about a few minutes away from the cheerful pink hair child skipping into the forest.

"Stupid monster! Stay in the hole where you should be! Ha ha!" shouted a spiteful boy.

"Yea! We don't like you! We don't want to ever see you!" shouted a mean girl.

"You don't even have parents! My father told me to stay away from ! You are evil and bad!" taunted yet another boy.

Ah. Children. So much anger yet such limited vocabulary. Education these days.

The target of such ill mannered teasing was a dirty little boy sitting at the bottom of a hole in the forest ground.

The little boy mutedly looked up to watch the jeering faces of his captives. And looked down again. He picked up a piece of crumpled leaf and stared at it and sighed quietly. It was the third time this week. Or was it the fifth? While foraging the forest for edible berries and mushrooms, he fell into a poorly disguised hole in the ground. How he failed to notice a stack of leaves and sticks strangely placed in the middle of the ground was beyond his understanding. Perhaps it had to do with the strategically placed berries just a foot away from the said trap?

The little boy sighed again and bowed his head. A lock of dirt-riddled hay fell into eyes. His hair to be in fact. Yes, this sad little boy with dirty blond hair and dull blue eyes was Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto.

Everyone hated him. Civilian adults despised him. Children taunted and teased him. Shinobis ignored him. And the saddest part was he had no clue why. Naruto had given up and trying to find the reason and settled for reluctant acceptance. He was hungry and rarely had enough to eat, which was why he would go to the forest and search for edible food. Somehow, the children took note of his almost daily journeys into the forest and followed him. In time, they managed to devise some trap to further make his pitiful life miserable.

Yes, his was a sad existence indeed.

"And stay there! Ha ha. Have fun, loser!" One boy shouted once more and the group of children left, laughing and congratulating each other for a successful prank on the reject of Konoha.

Naruto continued to sit and stare wordlessly at the sticks and branches around him. The first time he fell into such trap, he shouted and screamed for help. Only till nightfall did some masked shinobi come and silently hauled him out and dumped him at the gates of Konoha. Since then, Naruto just had to wait silently at the bottom of the hole and the hokage would at some point send some unlucky shinobi to fish him out when he went missing too long. Naruto learnt to not shout or cry or cause any ruckus when something similar happened. It would not help him in any way. The best way was to focus his attention somewhere else.

For example, when civilians were throwing trash at his face in the streets, he would focus his attention at the pebbled streets, wondering how the founders of the village managed to find different pebbles to lay the road. Or when other children threw stones at him, Naruto would start staring at the sky and search for oddly shaped clouds. It was hard at first, but Naruto was somewhat proud to say that he had became very adept at ignoring physical pain and cruel words and zoning out.

Back to his situation in the forest hole, Naruto picked up a stray branch and absently-mindedly started to draw circles in the dirt. By the looks of it, he would have to wait at least 5 hours before a disgruntled shinobi came to search for him at night and he might as well entertain himself. Hmm. Now that looks like a sheep. Ah, if he shifted a piece of leaf on the top, it looked like a pig. Odd. What if he added a few strokes here…and a circle there….

While skipping and singing a slightly out of tune song, Sakura noticed a few giggling children carrying shovels and ropes rush past her. She frowned slightly. She did not like those children. They weren't very friendly and liked to pick on others. They tried to pick on her once for her attention attracting pink hair and large forehead but she retaliated by saying mean things about their appearance instead. Hmph. She had a shinoni father and learnt a few mean words that weren't meant for a child's ears. She could be quite sharp tongued if she wanted. Ignoring those children who appeared to give her a wide berth once they noticed her, she continued along her way. Suddenly, she saw a hole to the right of the forest path. She stopped. That was odd, forests usually didn't have holes in the ground. A few seconds later coupled with the memory of seeing shovels, she came to the conclusion that someone had dug a hole in the forest. Curiosity won over and Sakura carefully walked over to the hole to take a look. One must be careful after all being in the forest, as her mother always warned her. Animals roamed around and she didn't want to be faced with an angry bear stuck in a hole.

Sakura first placed her basket on the floor and kneeled down beside the hole. She slowly peered cautiously over the rim of the hole. Instead of seeing a rabid bear clawing its way up the hole, she see a large clump of dirt at the bottom. The clump of dirt moved. Oooh a branch and some leaves also moved. Odd. Was it some odd animal she hadn't heard of before?

She continued to stare down. Suddenly, the branch stopped moving and she saw a pair of eyes in the clump of dirt staring back at her.

Naruto was surprised and he hadn't been surprised for some years. While drawing figures in the floor and walls to past time, he became quite emerged in bringing the odd images bouncing in his mind into dirt art when he noticed that something had blocked the light from above. Raising his eyes to the sky, he saw a pink haired girl staring back. After an odd silence, the girl called out to him and apparently thought he was some weird mutant racoon. After a few exchanged words, the girl, who introduced herself as Sakura, understood the situation.

"That's horrible! Let me find something to pull you up with!" she said indignantly and disappeared. Naruto blinked his eyes and cocked his head to the side for a moment. Someone was willing to help him, someone who looked to be the same age as him. He didn't recall seeing her before though. However, Nartuo did not give her much though afterwards having learnt a hard lesson in getting his hopes up when he was younger. With a shrug, the girl was lost in the back of his mind and he went back to his half finished circles on the dirt wall.

"I got it…just a little bit more…argh!" hissed Sakura as she lay flat on her stomach on a large branch and tried to grasp a slender long branch at the end. She tugged. The branch didn't move. She tugged again, this time harder. The branch remained unbroken. Sakura, after hearing the dirty boy's short account of his sad encounter, felt a rage of fire burn in her body. She had to help him! The poor boy! She knew those bad children were up to no good. After quick scan of the area, she found herself climbing a large tree and reaching for a branch which was seemingly long enough to reach the boy.

"Almost! Must…help…him!" she told herself while tugging more fervently.

Snap! The branch finally gave in and broke into her hands. However, Sakura had no chance to giggle happily. Her last tug was too forceful and with both hands on the broken branch, Sakura lost balance and fell.

She screamed and flayed her arms trying to hold something. Thump! Something painful caught her jaw. A sturdy and thick forked branch had somehow caught her jaw and held her dangling in the air. The rough wood bit into her jaw. Sakura grabbed the branch and tried to remove herself. However, Sakura did not have enough energy to lift her whole body up and backwards to release herself from the narrow and fork. She could only hold onto the thick branch to lessen the pressure on the jaw. Oh how was she going to get herself out of this painful situation?

As mentioned above, the world did not only consist of Sakura, Naruto and a bunch of ill mannered twits.

There was yet another little child. An adorable, black haired child. Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke. And this little boy was running excitedly into the forest path, one that a little girl wearing a red cape had taken not so long ago.

This was the day his beloved aniki was coming back from a month long mission. His strong, perfect aniki, Uchiha Itachi. His brother graduated from the Academy at the tender age of 7, became a chunin at 10 and was an ANBU when he was 11. Sasuke was not even 7 and was due to attend the Academy in a few months. Envious of his dear aniki's accomplishments, he was eager to start his own journey and surpass his dear aniki's record! Of course, that didn't stop him from looking up to his brother and awaiting his arrival with longing every time he went on a mission. Today was not an exception. On this fine, sunny day, Itachi was coming home and likely by way of the forest path, courtesy of his mother's understanding.

Sasuke wanted to be the first to greet the Uchiha clan's genius heir and had rushed out to the forest in anticipation upon successfully obtaining said information from his mother (by using his ultra cute eyes!). Yes, Sasuke knew he could get anyone to do anything once he widened his eyes and blinked and grinned like those nin dogs asking for treats. His mother and the elder females of not only his clan but those outside were unable to defend themselves when he batted his eyelashes and tried with all his little heart to convey what he wanted with his eyes! Of course, his smile and the way he wrapped his tiny arms around his targer's legs helped the process too. Sasuke knew that he was loved and dotted on by everyone and he used it to his advantage.

Anyhow. Moving on.

Sasuke panted while he raced through the forest. Hmm, which path would aniki take? Aniki was a great ninja and would definitely not take the main path. He would have to be stealthy and unpredictable! Yes that was it. Sasuke nodded to himself proudly and steered himself off the path and into the dirt ground of the forest.

And promptly fell into a hole. Said hole was covered in branches and leaves.

Sasuke screamed and his back shortly hit against the ground. A little berry smacked into his forehead and rolled away. Ouch. Sasuke blinked slowly as pain roared into his body. Tears welled up in his large, onyx eyes.

"That…hurt." He muttered to himself as he painfully pushed himself to sit up. He massaged his temple with one hand and his back with the other. After some moments, the pain receded slightly. Sasuke got up slowly and looked around. He was in a hole. A hole that was covered by branches and leaves. He looked down and saw some berries on the floor. Was it a trap for some animal? Sasuke tried to jump and climb up the dirt wall and unsuccessfully slid back down. Tears started to flow out of his eyes again. Sasuke furiously used his hand to wipe them away. He would not cry.

Sadly, more tears continued to leak out uncontrollably. He didn't want to cry. He was to be a great ninja, greater than aniki and great ninjas didn't cry. Great ninjas also did not get stuck in some hole for animals. He would not cry.

"Help! Aniki! I am in this hole! Can anyone hear me! I am Uchiha Sasuke! Help!" Sasuke shouted. No one replied. He kicked and punched the wall in anger. He then shouted some more. He even threw a few branches and berries out of the hole to get someone's attention. No one replied. It became apparently after shouting for an hour that no one was around to hear him. Not even his aniki. His eyes were hot and tired from crying, his fists were tender and red from punching and his throat was painful due to his shouts and sobs.

Frustrated and tired, Sasuke sat down heavily on the ground hugged himself tightly. He felt cold. He wanted his aniki now. He wanted his mother. He even wanted his stern father or playful cousin Shisui. Anyone. He never felt so alone in his life. Never.

"….Aniki…" Sasuke whispered quietly as tears dropped onto the ground. "Come find me."

The Uchiha compound was a large place in Konohagakure. The main house where the head of the Uchiha clan resided stood proudly in the centre of the compound. It was made of dark wood and oozed of power, strength and authority. All members treaded carefully in the premises of the main house. It was not only the home of the clan head, Uchiha Fugaku and his gentle yet strong wife Mikoto, it was also the home of the clan's genius, Uchiha Itachi.

Itachi was the pride of the clan. Never had any child accomplished as much as he did at the mere age of 11. Not even his cousin Shisui, who was very talented in his own way and a year older than Itachi, was comparable.

Thump. The Uchiha's genius slightly landed on the roof of the main house and silently slide down onto the court yard. His mother was gracefully drinking tea while sitting on a marble stool placed in the court yard.

"Itachi. You are back. How was the mission?" Mikoto sipped her tea serenely without turning her head. She was a formidable kunochi in her own right and had sensed Itachi's presence before he landed on the roof.

"Successful." Itachi replied quietly while he padded towards his mother. "Where is little brother?" he asked. Normally, his little brother Sasuke would be rushing over the moment he arrived home, shouting his name while running in the corridors for all to hear.

"Sasuke?" Mikoto frowned and turned around to look at her eldest son. "Did you not encounter him on your way back? He went to meet you in the forest outside Konoha."

"I did not take that route back. I took a detour to collect something. I shall fetch him" replied Itachi who frowned as well. He bowed to his mother and leaped into the air towards the direction of the forest. Hopefully his little brother had not tripped and injured himself. The animals of the forest would not take kindly to a human child bawling his eyes out for his aniki to help him.

Within a blink of an eye, Itachi's shadow was seen sprinting across roofs, walls of building and past the towering gates of Konoha. Itachi had unrivalled speed and chakra wells. As an ABNU operative, he was known for his almost perfect battle stance with weaknesses only known to himself. His powerful sharingan, once turned on, granted him impeccable perception of every single detail in battles and despite having to deal with his own opponents, Itachi always knew when a comrade was failing or required help. It was as if he had an eye on the back of his head. And on top of his head. Temples. Forehead.

Why, there was no need to shine an oversized torchlight with a clan symbol in the sky to get Itachi running over with his swift and clean-cut kunai stabs into the heart, unlike some incapable shinobi wannabe who could not fly without the help of tools. And he was handsome. Younger. More popular. Stoic and silent. He was better than that owl wannabe. Or was it sparrow wannabe?

Anyhow. Moving on.

Soon, Itachi arrived in the forest that Sasuke had allegedly headed off to. He landed on a branch and scanned the area with his twin sharingan while listening carefully for sounds.

Yes, he could see some sign of life up ahead. Human chakra signals, although faint. Nodding inwardly, Itachi launched himself in that direction.

Naruto was having an interesting day. Never had he thought that scribbling drawings on walls on dirt would be so entertaining. He drew wobbly pictures of the hokage, the shinobis that watched him, the nasty people who spitted at him, the children who hated him. They all looked funny with ugly faces and distorted limbs. While pondering what to draw next, Naruto had totally forgotten about the pink haired girl who promised to help him.

"Why are you here." A toneless male voice echoed behind him. Startled, Naruto jumped up and dropped his drawing-branch. Turning around, he saw a looming figure standing in front of him wearing a porcelain mask with markings. Ah, those masked shinobis who rarely said a word to him but hated him like the rest of them. They were strong and silent. Naruto didn't even notice the said masked shinobi when he landed into the hole with him.

Naruto calmed down from his surprise within a few seconds and cocked his head at the masked male. "I fell into this hole. Can't get back up. " The masked man watched him silently for a second, then stepped forward and gripped Naruto's arm. The next moment, Naruto saw himself being dragged upwards and dumped on the forest ground outside. Squinting in the warm light of the setting sun, Naruto got up. The masked shinobi was already gone. Typical.

Naruto scratched his dirty hair and saw a few pieces of root fall out. Now he had to find a river to bath before trudging back home. Naruto signed. Not only was he still hungry, he had been interrupted while he trying to replicate the hokage monument into dirt and roots. Perhaps he could try again at home? The memory of the hole and the masked shinobi tumbled to the back of his mind quickly as Naruto continued to wonder to himself while dragging his weary feet towards the river than ran in the forest, occasionally stopping to pop a mushroom into his mouth.

And a basket that original sat next the hideous hole that housed the formidable monster was gone.

Sakura was in living hell. Her arms throbbed painfullu from their exertion, her jaws felt like they were being detached manually with hot tongs and her neck felt as if needles were pricking down every time she swallowed and breathed.

If it were another day, the proud shinobis of Konoha would have admired this little girl for her strength and willpower. Not every little child could avoid hanging themselves while having their neck stuck in the same way for over an hour. Sakura wished with her heart that the world despised her just so that she did not endure this pain at this moment. Sakura whimpered as the branched scratched her raw skin again. More blood tricked down the somewhat dry red trail down her throat and into her clothes. She was tired and did not know how much longer she could hold on. She gave up shouting and it seemed that no one could help her. The dirty boy in the hole wouldn't be able to save her either given his own situation. Where was her mother? Her father? Her aunt? Where was everyone? Shouldn't they be looking for her right now?

Sakura felt tears springing from her eyes and run down her cheeks to mingle and mix with her blood. Fear was long gone and her body was racked with exhaustion instead. She wanted to give it, she was tired and in pain. She wanted to close her eyes, release her grip on the branch and leg her body sag downwards with her weight.

Crack! The branch she had gripped with all her life suddenly broke.

Sakura felt herself falling downwards. Something caught her waist almost immediately and placed her gently on the ground. Sakura coughed and sputtered while pushing the forked branch away from her throat. She used her trembling aching hands to gingerly touch her raw skin and winced at the pain. She was alive and away from the wretched branch.

Thawp. Something was placed in front of her. She weakly gave a glance and found that it was her long forgotten basket.

"Do not move. I will be back." An emotionless young make voiced echoed at the top of her head. And with a whish, he left the scene. Sakura groaned and lay down on her back while massaging her wrists and throat. That must have been her saviour, a shinobi no doubt.

Itachi had found the hanging girl by the scent of her blood. He immediately saw the cause of her pain and with a quick slash of his kunai, the offending branch broke and he caught the falling child gently before placing her on the ground. She was a sad sight, tears and blood flowing freely down her throat and into her clothes. She also had a very bruised and raw throat. She would have nightmares to come of his encounter. However, he had no time to comfort her. Itachi was not one to comfort. No he left it to the family of victims. He dealt with death and pain instead. And at this moment, he had a missing brother to find.

Muttering a warning to the pink hair girl, he swiftly leapt into the air. He saw the faint trails of his brother's chakra nearby and followed it. While following, his mind pondered on the hole where he found the dirty jinchuriki. He knew about the antics of the civilians and some shinobis towards the boy. Itachi did not approve of it and would not partake in it. Selfish elders allowing the son of the fourth to be reduced to such a pitiful existence. Itachi felt a surge of anger towards Konoha and allowed it to extinguish immediately.

A problem to be dealt with at another time.

Itachi landed beside yet another hole in the forest ground. What imbecile dug holes in the floor for unsuspecting people to fall into. He knew his little brother was inside and after quickly scanning the area for threats and finding none, he dropped into the hole and landed beside a small motionless figure that was curled up against the dirt wall.

"Otto." Itachi murmured. His brother did not move despite showings signs of life. Frowning, Itachi bent down on one knee and reached out to touch his brother shoulder. He felt his brother's muscle tense under his hand and slowly, very slowly, Sasuke turned so that an eye peered back. A bloodshot eye which was almost as red as the sharingan yet not quite the same. Wet trails ran from his eyes to his chin. His brother had been crying.

"A..aniki?" a small hoarse sound was emitted from the now trembling figure. Itachi gave a quick nod.

"Aniki? You are ..here?" Sasuke turned his face so Itachi could see his face fully. His brother's skin was pale and covered with dirt. His arms were rigidly hugging his own small body and his knees were drawn up to his chin in a defensive position.

Itachi leaned forward to gather his brother into his arms. "Come." He reached and hugged his brother by his waist and hoisted him up. Itachi felt his brother slowly reach and encircle his neck tightly. Sauske's body felt cold and tense. Was he sick? A stab of worry flashed through Itachi's mind and he quickly leaped out of the hole.

Itachi sprinted towards the cleaning where he left the pink hair girl. She was lying on her back, eyes closed with her hands lying limply at the sides. Itachi stopped before her. "Come." He said to her. The little girl slowly opened her eyes and gave a glance to Sasuke who was clutching to his neck with all his might. The girl pushed herself, wincing from the pain and picked up her basket from the ground. Itachi stepped forward with the intent to grab the girl and allow her to hold onto his neck while he brought them back to the village. However, the moment the girl reached forward to touch him, Itachi felt Sasuke tense up and gripped his neck almost painfully.

"No…aniki…is mine." Sasuke muttered into Itachi's neck. Itachi blinked.

"Otto, we need to bring both of you back to Konoha now." Itachi replied stoically.

Ignoring Sasuke feeble resistant to hoard both his shoulders, Itachi allowed the girl to gingerly place her arms on his shoulder. Itachi gripped her waist and with a push of chakra, he set his body into a blur towards Konoha.

It was a beautiful sunny day. And a fateful one.


	2. Chapter 2

**Stoicism is the new in thing** by angrypixels

Summary: Where Itachi is a sweet, gentle medic, Sasuke is a touchy feely needer, Naruto is a self-acclaimed artist with a fake smile..and Sakura is suffering from permanent facial muscle paralysis.

Genre: AU. Non-mass. Obvious OC.

Paring: Sakura/Itachi.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 2 - Twist of mind<span>

"How is my daughter?" Sakura's mother urgently asked the medic nin while hovering over Sakura's bed.

"She is not in any life threatening danger. However, the pressure caused by hanging almost solely by her own body weight has caused some soft tissue damage to her throat and jaw…" the medic pursed his lips while he flips through his notes. "Apparently some tendons and muscles were also torn and are currently inflamed."

Sakura's mother looked down on her poor little girl whose lower face and neck looked like a swollen tomato with black and purple bruises to match.

"Will this all..heal?" Sakura's mother waved vaguely at her daughter injuries and shuddered.

"Likely yes." replied the medic.

Sakura could hear all of this of course. There were many hard words and she didn't understand half of what was going on. She couldn't even see what was going on either. Her face felt like it was burning and her cheeks were so swollen and painful that opening her eyes made her felt like fainting. She couldn't breathe properly, swallow or even drink without excruciating pain radiating from her mouth down her throat (those were the hard words the medic nin used to tell her mother why she didn't want to drink water).

Sakura scrunched up her fists when the medic was finally done with her, leaving her mother to fuss and coo at her like a worried hen. She didn't feel like responding to any of her mother's questions or looking at her mother's concerned face. If she could use her voice, she would be screaming her lungs out just to express her frustration. She was never near a stupid tree again. And she was never going to help random strangers anymore.

* * *

><p>In the room right next to a Sakura who was developing dendrophobia (fear of trees) overnight, Itachi stood silently while watching his little brother sleeping fitfully in the hospital bed. Sasuke tossed and turned, his small lips whispering silent words as he fought nightmares. He would rather bring Sasuke back to the Uchiha compound to rest in a more familiar environment, but the medic nin, who cowed under Itachi's solemn glare despite the former being at least a head taller, informed the worried Uchiha main family that it would best if Sasuke stayed overnight to observe.<p>

The young ANBU slowly reached forward and brushed away a lock of ebony hair from Sasuke's forehead. He remembered watching the medic nin immediately change from a shivering overgrown squirrel into a emotionless, focused medical practitioner while he swept his hand across his brother's small form, green energy flowing seamlessly into his body scanning and healing.

It was so natural, so serene and so….right. Although Itachi had seen numerous chakra healings before, it was the first time he felt so awed from the whole process. To give life, energy and heal anyone, especially those close to heart. Willingly parting your own energy in hopes of mending those in pain. It was beautiful.

The wonders of being a medic. The gift of life through their hands.

Itachi traced circles on his little brother's forehead softly. He always loved seeing Sasuke's reaction every time he flicked his forehead. Like a surprised yet adorable little animal. Itachi could feel the sides of his mouth twitch upwards at the fond memories. It was without doubt that Itachi loved his brother dearly and would never harm him. It had hurt Itachi, even if he did not show it outwardly, when he was unable to help his brother as he thrashed and cried on the table after he forced Sasuke to let go of him while medic nins held him down and sedated him. Helpless. He knew nothing of healing and comforting.

Itachi lifted both of his hands. He had taken off his gloves and his whole ANBU gear. His heads were not smooth. Calloused. They were clean and spotless at the moment, but there were endless times when they were dripping with red, hot blood. Fresh from the kill, from removing the light of life from a person's life. And it wasn't always an enemy either. These hands were so different from those a medic. They took away life instead of giving.

Itachi's eyebrows twitched slightly as he tightened his hands into fists. Such hands that have taken so many lives should not touch his innocent otto lest he suck the pure life out of him like a demon.

Itachi turned around and left the room silently. He had many heavy thoughts on his mind that night.

* * *

><p>Within a few days, Sakura was discharged from the hospital. The medic nin assured her and her mother that once her inflamed tendons and muscles healed, she would be as good as new. However, Sakura never imagined that things could go wrong just like that. For the first week out of the hospital, she still couldn't move her facial muscles properly without pain or speak words other that huffs and grunts. In order to prevent further pain, she tried very hard to school her expressions to a minimum and use body language to express her intentions. However, Sakura was still a child and those around her unfortunately fell to same category, intellectually and emotionally.<p>

"Forehead! Now you can't even talk!" "Serves you right for calling me a liar that day!" "What can you do? Hit me? Catch me first! Ha ha!"

Sakura stoically stood in the middle of the streets while a few children circled her, throwing immature insults and pulling at her hair.

"Pink hair! It's so ugly!" "Everything you wear makes you hideous!"

And girls always had to go for the appearances first. It was so stupid.

Sakura inwardly sighed as she pulled a tuff of hair from some boy who was tugging on it insistently. It was like living in hell now. Now a month after her nightmarish encounter at the forest, she almost wished that she was hanging again by a branch at her throat instead of being the receipt of ill-intended teasing from other children.

She couldn't shout sarcastic remarks or even fake a cry to draw attention as she usually did when she was outnumbered. Heck, she couldn't even throw a punch as that would somehow stretch the muscles in her shoulders and neck. The medic nin told her that her injuries would take some time to heal properly. Chakra healing could only help so much and sometimes, it was better to let the body heal on its own lest it would become immune to foreign regenerative power.

"Children get well fast. In a blink of an eye, she will be up and running around, playing with her friends." That was what the smiling medic nin told her mother. Yea right. Sakura huffed to herself loudly as she crouched down to avoid a stone hurdling towards her head. She couldn't even move her head properly and had to rely on her back and waist to make minor movements with her upper body. Running up and down? Nope. She was happy to be able to walk, albeit stiftly instead of being stuck at home. And friends? She didn't seem them anywhere.

Now utterly defenseless, all she could do was non-existentingly furrow her eyebrows and give a killer glare to those children who were bent on getting their revenge when she gave her fare share of sarcastic remarks in the past. Not that it deterred her teasers much given there wasn't any constructive consequences. Deciding to go home and ask her mother to remove the dirt and leaves in her hair lovingly thrown by her generation, Sakura stuck her hands into her pocket, turned around, kicked one boy in the shin to get him to move and sulked home.

Maybe she should stay home for a while until school starts. Ah...school. Going to school with other children was going to be a torture. No doubt they would make good use of this chance to make fun of not only her forehead, hair colour and now her inability to talk or make any facial expressions.

Inwardly, Sakura screamed and threw her arms in the air.

She had a feeling that she was going to be in a bad mood for a long time. Her favourite anmitsu was definitely not going to help this time.

* * *

><p>"Itachi."<p>

"Father."

Itachi silently stepped onto the porch and lowered himself onto one of the cushions near his father.

They both sat in silence as they watched the matriarch of the Uchiha clan, Mikoto, play with her youngest son in the garden. Of course, their version of play wasn't the usual tag or throw-your-son-into-the-air. Their fun was Mikoto throwing kunais randomly at her own son while said son tumbled and dodged while giggling with glee. Every family had it own quirks, especially ninja clans.

"Noticed something different?" Fugaku asked his eldest son, his eyes still watching Sasuke as he barely dodged a kunai aimed at his head.

Itachi did not answer immediately. He continued to observe the friendly play between his mother and younger brother. After a month, Sasuke was as good as before and was chasing him around playfully as he used to. However, something was…different. And he didn't have to activate his sharingan to note it. After a running away from a barrage of kunais, Sasuke crouched down and suddenly leapt towards his mother, grabbing her by her legs and making her tumble down with him on top. Mikoto good humouredly hugged Sasuke and patted him on the head. Sasuke, on the other hand, crawled up and hugged his mother's waist tightly while rubbing his head back and forth on her stomach.

Fugaku and Itachi watched as Mikoto tried to get Sasuke to let go after some minutes but was met with refusal as Sasuke clung even tighter to her, his little mouth pressed against her clothes as he whispered. Both Fugaku and Itachi activated their sharingan to read Sasuke's lips as they were too far away to hear his words.

Never letting go. Never. You are not going to leave me alone.

"Sasuke has not been sleeping properly." Fugaku noted with his eyes still focused on the pair in front of him.

"Nightmares." Itachi replied shortly. He knew that Sasuke woke almost every night sweating from his nightmares. Whenever Itachi was not on missions, his little brother would crawl into his blanket and grab his aniki. Itachi would let him, not being able to reject those eyes with unshed tears. Not once did Sasuke tell Itachi nor anyone else of his nightmares or ordeal in the forest. The Uchiha clan children were taught to not show fear and weakness. However, Itachi knew that it had traumatised him. Sauske grew up in peaceful times and was border line spoiled by many members of the clan. Being left alone in a pit in the dark was the worst experience he ever had.

Itachi shook his head. Foolish little brother, to be frightened by such an experience. He had a lot of growing up to do if he was to follow into his footsteps. Itachi's heart thumped painfully the moment he had that thought. No, he did not want his little brother to follow his footsteps.

"Shame that our family never had any exceptional medic nins. Healing would be best done in the confines of familiarity. Your cousin Shisui almost died a few months ago after his ANBU mission even after being taken to the hospital for healing. Bad timing to come in injured just when the hospital was urgently taking care of a chunin team whose mission had gone wrong. "

"Healing is not like killing." said Itachi as visions of the medic nin with his soft green chakra filled his mind.

Fugaku raised an eye at his eldest son. "Correct. To heal, you have to first willingly give. Not an easy trait, especially in our world. A valuable skill, perhaps even more valuable than the skill to silently kill. "

Itachi continued to quietly watch Sasuke hanging onto his mother hips as she stood up. Mikoto resignedly lifted Sasuke into her arms, something she rarely did ever since he turned five, and carried him to the lake outside the main house to watch the sunset.

Itachi turned off his sharingan and turned his head to look his father in the eyes.

"Father. I have a proposition to make."

* * *

><p>Ramen was good. Ramen was always good. Miso ramen. Ramen in pork broth. Barbecued pork ramen. Ramen with eggs and seaweed. Ramen with bamboo shoots. Spicy ramen. Hey, Naruto even loved curry ramen. There was something about those yellow noodles mixed with yellow slop.<p>

In fact, he was currently having a bowl of curry ramen right at Ichiraku. Technically, he was staring into his bowl, swinging his legs deep in thought. Naruto was still too small and his legs dangled from the stool where he sat. Ichiraku was one of the rare few places he could go into without being shunned by the public. Once a week, Teuchi, the owner, would give Naruto free meal and Naruto would always take up the offer and eat his fill. Today was no exception. A month after his ordeal at the forest, Naruto had managed to not fall into any more traps and had forgotten about the whole incident as quickly as the fruit sellers threw away rotten apples. Usually, Naruto would polish off at least five bowls of ramen but today, pigging out wasn't on his agenda. In fact, the thing that distracted him from eating his beloved ramen was..well, ramen itself.

Naruto stared at the noodles swimming in the yellow sauce. A layer of fragrant oil floating on top, with little pieces of onion here and there. It was so …complex. The way the noodles were looped around covered in curry, the layered onion, the specks of spices that could be seen mixed in. The whole mixture did not mix properly, yet it looked so…harmonious. Naruto lifted his chopsticks and gave his ramen another swirls. Look! Everything looked the same yet different again. It fascinated Naruto and he kept swirling his food around and around, just to see the different way the ingredients of his dinner would array themselves to his entertainment. Who could have guessed that food would be so….enthralling?

"Naruto, you going to eat that? Your ramen is getting soggy." Ayame, Teuchi's daughter asked him as she watched him swirl his noodles yet again. Naruto dragged his eyes from the bowl and glanced at Ayame. Within a few seconds, Naruto shovelled all the noodles including the soup down his throat and wiped his mouth with the back of his hands.

"Arigato Teuchi ojisan. I am full."

"What?" Teuchi popped his head out from the kitchen. "That was only your fist bowl Naruto! Am I dreaming?"

Ayame placed a hand on Naruto's forehead and frowned. "Are you sick?" Naruto shook his head and slid off the stool. "I have something to do. Sayonara."

Naruto left the ramen stall without a backward glance, his mind filled with images of the ramen he just stuffed into his small yet usually insatiable tummy. Today, he just wasn't feeling that hungry.

Hmm. Naruto thought to himself as he kicked a pebble in the streets. He had seen that colour before. The sand near the Hokage Mountain. Yes, almost the exact colour of the curry soup. As for the noodles…perhaps he could get some clay and dye it? But where would he find dye? Maybe some plant in the forest would give the clay some colour? Now for the onion…

Naruto was lost in his faults as he trudged along to the Hokage Mountain, ignoring the insults hurled by the children on the streets and the hostile glares given by the adults.

* * *

><p>AN: Reviews are greatly appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

Stoicism is the new in thing by angrypixels

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><p><span>Chapter 3 - Graduation<span>

It was yet another beautiful day in the hidden nin village named Konoha. Technically, it wasn't really hidden as if it was, it would be bad for tourism. And mission business. Who would want to give business to a place they couldn't find?

Anyhow, moving on.

Today was the day when the final exams for the Ninja Academy would take place. And boy was Sasuke happy. He loved it when he was surrounded by everyone. It filled him with energy. The chatter, the laughs, the breaths taken, it made him feel life. Real. Alive.

Every morning without fault, when there was school of course, Sasuke would run through the corridors, slide the classroom door open and shout…

"Good morning!" Sasuke squealed at the top of his voice while jumping into his beloved classroom.

"Morning Sasuke-kun!" echoed at least ten other female voices. Almost instantly, Sasuke disappeared in a tangled mess of arms and hair. Sasuke was not perturbed by this on slaughter of female attention at all. He grinned and tried his hardest to hug them all despite his not-very-long limbs of a growing twelve year old boy. Life was good.

"Idiot." Muttered Nara Shikamaru, his head lying on the cool desk. It was freakishly hot in summer in Konoha. The fans waving above on the ceiling did nothing to cool the heat. And now, he had to listen to the squeaks and shouts of the female population in his classroom as they proceeded with their almost daily physical interaction (which included, smooching, hugging, giggles, tickles) of the class heartthrob, Uchiha Sasuke. The rest of the class either watched bemusedly or in annoyance.

"He is such a whore." sneered Inuzuka Kiba, who sat right next to him while using his hands to cover the sensitive ears of a trembling Akamaru. "How can he enjoy letting them molest him like that?"

"Where did you learn that word." Asked Choji as he munched on a packet of chips.

"My sister Hana mentioned it the other day… Akamaru do not touch the chips! "

Slam!

Two figures suddenly stepped in silently into the classroom. Immediately, the whole class went silent as anticipation gathered up. One stoic faced female with pink hair that clashed horribly with her expression and a blond boy whose blissful expression showed that his mind was miles and miles away.

Sakura wasn't in a good mood. Actually, she wasn't in a bad mood. Technically, she was feeling pretty neutral today. It was the finals and she had prepped all night, going through her notes and textbooks. She even managed to get her father to practice some Taijutsu and Ninjutsu with her. She was mentally and physically prepared for anything the instructors would throw at her and was confident that she would get top grades, if not full ones. However, outwardly she didn't show anything. In fact, she didn't show any emotion whatsoever.

Ever since the unfortunate event five years ago, Sakura developed…a condition. That was what the medic nin told her anyways. After the first few months of beginning school at the academy as prospective gennins, she was pronounced to have fully recovered. Yet no matter how much she tried, much to the exasperation of her parents, she would somehow feel pain burning throughout her face and neck and was unable to form proper facial expressions. The medic nin said that it may be psychological, but to Sakura, it meant pain in every and any sense. And that pretty much put a damper on her social life and personality. At first, people picked on her for her inability to give responses but later once Sakura learnt the true meaning of physical violence, people tended to stand clear of her the moment she was in the vicinity.

Once Sakura stepped inside in the classroom she spotted as usual the girl magnet Sasuke was surrounded by a gaggle of her female classmates who were eager to take advantage of the young boy's loving nature. Actually, she secretly thought that the boy wanted to be smothered by female and it was the girls who were being molested. All in all, she never really paid a lot of attention unless the noise got too loud. She didn't find Sasuke very attractive. He was just a boy who was good at looking cute and wasn't afraid of girls like the rest of the males in her class. Nartuo however….

In rare show of curiosity, Sakura titled her head to glance the boy next to her out of her corner of her eye. They both arrived at the Academy around the same time this morning and silently walked to their classroom side by side. Both didn't say word. Sakura, being her usual silent self and Naruto, zoning out in his little world. Naruto stood next to her at the door of the classroom, eyes mildly amused at the scene in front of him (a bunch of girls holding Sasuke while they stared at him apprehensively). Despite having some odd whisker-like markings on his face, Naruto always gave off a far away aura with his dreamy expressions and eyes that focused on anywhere but where he should be focused on. Coupled with an orange jumper which clashed with all fashion sense (it was even splattered with spots of paint here there) and some pencils and brushes poking out of his pocket and sachets, Nartuo was a boy who oozed oddness and otherworldly-ness.

And Sakura was totally fine with that. They did not speak much, perhaps given Sakura inability to speak much at all. But he didn't ask questions and she didn't have to give any response. And the best thing? With Naruto's weirdness and her supposingly terrorist reputation, both of them paired up drove people away as if they were running away from a stink bomb.

And as sure as that, Sakura straightened her neck and started to glare at the group of people standing in front of her.

"Hmph." She grunted. Immediately, the crowd dispersed, even the overly clingly fangirls of Sasuke, leaving their idol standing there looking a bit lonely. Yes, the popular boy held out his hands as if trying to remember the feel of being held while his eyes started to water a bit.

What a whiner. Sakura secretly thought to herself as she stepped forward to walk towards her seat.

"Sakura-chan! Naruto-chan! Konbawa!" Sasuke squealed as he stepped forward, hands thrown apart in hopes of receiving a hug and maybe a kiss on the cheek. Sasuke had no qualms on receiving attention from anyone, male or female or even social rejects. Both Naruto and Sakura stepped aside at the same time while Sasuke threw himself at them. Just like almost every other morning. Of course, Sasuke didn't fall flat on his face. No, despite his giddily happy personality, he was trained well by his family and immediately swirled around on the soles of his feet and gave a tearful look at the two departing bodies.

"Ha ha. Daily entertainment." Kiba chuckled happily as he watched both the pink haired female and Naruto approach their usual seats which were not far away from his. Akamura arfed in agreement. The rest of the male population, excluding Sasuke, were in fact a little awed by Sakura. Unlike the rest of the fangirls of the class, she exuded aloofness and stoiciness as easily as breathing. Although some of them may have teased her when they were younger and gotten beaten up by her in the end, they all grew up and grew to accept her as she was.

Shikamaru opened an eye as he lazily watches Sakura walk down the steps and sit down in the seat in front of him while Naruto sat next to him. Sakura was not ugly. She had eye catching pink hair that was always tied up in a sensible pony tail and large, glittering emerald eyes that seem to be able to burn holes whenever she wasn't happy with the way things were. Despite having a large forehead, she started to grow into it and her bangs covered them pretty well. She was unlike the Yamanaka Ino who lived to hear the sound of her own voice. Frankly speaking, Shikamaru enjoyed Sakura's company compared to most of his classmates. Although she rarely showed any facial emotion, the slight cringle of her eyes or the minute twitch of the corner of her mouth whenever something or someone stupid came along showed that she had a sense of humor. Shikamaru liked that and would sometimes shared a knowingly look with her. Naruto, on the other hand, usually didn't get most of the happenings of the word and tended to be pretty absorbed in his artwork which usually consisted of bizarre things such as dried mud or curry stains. However, Naruto rarely got on Shikamaru's nerves thus making his company also tolerable.

The loud bell echoed through the classroom and everyone started to climb into their usual seats. Sasuke, while a bit disappointed that dear Sakura-chan and Naruto refused to greet him, jumped into his usual seat between Ino and Ami. Winking at the two girls who giggled while he snuggled between him, Sasuke straightened up once Iruka sensei stepped into the room. Sasuke loved to be with his friends but as his father always told him, he was a Uchiha and with that came the expectation to excel in everything, including academics. He wanted to make his father and his aniki proud. That and he was on his way to becoming a stronger nin than his aniki!...despite the fact that his aniki became a medic nin a year before. But that wasn't going to stop him at all. Sasuke was going to be a better in everything nin than his aniki!

"Class. Today is the finals. Hopefully you all have learnt enough during this year to pass and finally become a gennin." Iruka smirked to the class. "Sauske, you have lip gloss over your cheek. Wipe it."

Nartuo was bored. To be honest, he was bored almost during all his waking hours. Except of course when he was creating a masterpiece. Which happened to be every piece of art he was working on. There was one thing he which he found utterly boring. The nin academy. Yes. Given the choice, he would just hole up on his measly apartment and fiddle around with new materials and create something interesting instead of staring at squiggles in books and throwing metals at trees. But now, the great hokage-sama dragged him into his office and gave him a long boring lecture about how he, as a citizen of Konoha and an orphan to boot, was to fulfill his duty to at least try and become a nin. More of like paying off his debts due to his pitiful existence.

"Next! Nartuo!" Iruka shouted in that annoying voice of his, bringing Naruto back to reality. Quietly sighing to himself, Nartuo stood up and slouched towards to the examination room. There was no good reason to give it his best shot. After this was done, he could hide back and ignore the rest of the world for good. Just like they ignored him.

At the end of the day, Sakura, with the rest of the graduates, stood in front of the academy accepting congratulations from family and friends. Sakura patiently allowed her mother to hug her and shower her with kisses while her father messed up her hair. Now she had to retie it into a pony tail. Sparing a sideward glance towards the swing not far away, Sakura saw Naruto sitting there alone, feet lightly swaying above the ground. Instead of watching the happy children as they boasted of their achievements, Naruto had lifted his head and was staring at the blue sky above. As if Sakura and the rest of them were all but background noise and he was off in his little world. Naruto was always like that. He managed to turn off everyone and be unfazed by what happened around him.

"Look at him…that monster."

Sakura turned her head around pretending to listen to her mother while silently concentrated on listening to two females speaking behind her.

"Imagine if he had graduated. It would be a disaster."

"Shh. Don't speak so loud. He might hear us."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows ever so slightly. It wasn't the first time she had heard of such offending comments about Naruto. She had even heard her parents give a snide remark about him once or twice in the past. Sakura was not stupid. The adults of the village hated Naruto for a reason yet allowed him to continue to stay in their amidst. Children were sensitive and always took their cues from adults. How the people felt about Naruto reflected on their children. Sakura did not like it very much. Naruto might be a bit odd and quiet but he wasn't a monster.

"Come on honey, let's go home. I cooked your favorite tempura. Smile a bit won't you, aren't you happy? " Her mother gently pulled her elbow for her attention while her father gave her a small push in the exit direction. Giving one more backward glance to Naruto who was now focused on staring at the tree bark, she allowed herself to be led home. Life would be a little boring without Naruto.

The next day, Sakura arrived a little earlier than usual after having a full night's sleep. She didn't want to be late for her first date as gennin and frankly speaking, she wanted to enjoy some moments of quiet and peace before the rest of her classmates arrived. However, the moment she stepped into her classroom with her new forehead protecter tied around her head, Sakura froze in her tracks and her eye brows shot up in a rare display of surprise. Nartuo was lying face down on his desk, sound asleep. Sakura was usually speechless but at this moment, no words came to mind at all. Despite the pretty picture that Naruto made with his blond hair and the sun rays shinning on his locks, he shouldn't be there at all. He failed the final exams. She heard Iruka scream his red face off at Naruto's obvious lack of effort of creating a copy of himself. She had a feeling that Naruto wasn't where he wanted to be and it was a bit shocking to see Naruto in the classroom again.

Sakura got over her shock after a few moments and silently slid into the seat next to Naruto who gave her no reaction at all.

"Gennin. No backing out." Sakura muttered in her low, husky voice. She winced inwardly. She didn't like hearing the sound of her own voice.

"I know." Naruto muttered from the desk. He turned his head slightly so his cheek rested on the desk and one eye could look at Sakura. Sakura noticed a gleaming konoha against his forehead and some huge eye bags. Seems like someone had a rough night. "I signed the papers, remember? Basically can't back out from now on. " Naturo signed and closed his eyes. Sakura knew he meant the gennin papers that each of them signed upon graduation and induction as a nin of Konoha where each nin swore not to betray and to always place Konoha first. "I have a debt to repay now. " And Naruto left it at that while leaving Sakura to ponder what exactly happened. Both relatively silent people continued to sit together in relative ease in the morning rays of light, deep in their own thoughts.

Sasuke could hardly sleep the night before. Upon graduation, he arrived home to a massive feast on the dining table. Sadly, his mother warned them that he was only allowed to start eating once his aniki came home after his shift at the hospital. Saskue was starving but he wanted to enjoy his celebratory dinner with his dear aniki and resorted to showering and changing while waiting for his aniki to arrive home. Finally, Itachi came back tired but happy. Sasuke noticed that ever since Itachi decided to switch to being a medic nin instead of an ANBU, smiles graced his face more and more frequent than the subtle frowns. Now after a few years of training and a journey to train, Itachi came back different. He was happier in a sense, as if what he was doing in the past was nothing compared to what he had achieved now. Sasuke was sure that his aniki enjoyed being a medic nin much more despite the dark looks his father threw at him every now and then. Sasuke in fact wanted to know the reason why yet he knew it wasn't his place to pry. The Uchiha clan was a proud one that strove to be the best and allowed nothing less of it clan members. Reputation and honor was foremost and the fact that Itachi had gone from one of the best ANBU to starting all over again as a low ranked medic nin did not sit well with the rest of the clan. Sasuke faintly knew something had happened between his aniki and the rest of the higher ranked clan members. He also heard snippets here and there that some of the more spoken elders rarely made an appearance at the clan meetings. Again, Sasuke knew something had happened and wisely kept his nose out of business he wasn't privy to. However, Sasuke still thought that life was good. He had everything he wanted, now if only he could grown up faster, be stronger…

Bang!

Sasuke slided open the worn down classroom door and hollered with all his might and morning happiness "Konbawa!"

And was met with silence. And lack of physical interaction that he was so used to within the moment he stepped into the classroom. Sasuke blinked a few times and immediately zoned into the two lone figures sitting together near the window.

"Nartuo-chan! Sakura-chan! Where is everyone?" Sasuke asked as he quickly skipped towards his classmates. "And Naruto-chan, I thought Iruka sensei failed you yesterday?"

Silence was heavy in the air.

Sasuke resignedly slipped into a seat next to Nartuo and Sakura. Despite being ignored by his two classmates, he didn't like sitting by himself even for a few minutes. Sasuke sometimes wondered if he did something to annoy them. He always saw himself as a polite and cheerful boy as his mother taught him to be. However, no matter how cheerfully he greeted them or tried to hug them, both never gave him much of a response. Giving himself a rare sigh, Sasuke, laid down on his desk and closed his eyes. Soon, images of his dear aniki and gleeful children chasing each other filled his mind and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

It never ceased to amaze Sakura the power Sasuke had on the younger female population. Once her female classmates started to arrive, they immediately caught sight of the black haired boy who was napping on his desk, a cherub-like smile on his face. They all immediately cooed softly and put their stealth skills in good use and hardly made any sound to disturb their heartthrob. All males who dared to make so much as a cough were immediately given a death glare from the girls.

Finally Iruka-sensei turned up and after ruffling Nartuo's hair affectionately, he woke up Sasuke by giving him a poke in the shoulder.

"Alright settle down everyone. I am going to announce the teams now."

Upon being poked awake, Sasuke immediately went into hyper mood, eyes wide open and he watched Iruka-sensei expectantly. He was brimming with excitement with the idea of having a group. To be with two other all day, all night! Forever playmates! To do missions together! And have dinner afterwards! How better could life be? He grinned happily as images of himself and two other unknown nins pranced around in the golden fields, shooting shuriken at enemy nins.

"Team 7! Well, it looks like fate has already set its eyes on you three the moment you entered the classroom." Iruka-sensei smiled in good humor as he stood in front of Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke. "All three of you are in team 7."

The rest of the females in the class screamed in alarm while the males chucked manically. Sakura stoically stared back at Iruka and Naruto's head was turned to the side, staring at the window, obviously not listening.

Sasuke, on the other hand, immediately jumped to his feet and squealed in delight. "Yes! We are going to be best friends! Forever!" And then proceeded to try to hug his new teammates. Tried to, as Sakura moved out of the way. Naruto's conscious wasn't even in the classroom and Sasuke finally managed to get his cute little hands around him after all these years.

Iruka face palmed himself and sighed loudly. This was going to be an interesting combination.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- Best Friends Forever!...?

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><p>Today was originally a wonderful day. A day destined for great friendship and team bonding. Birds would sing and waves would crash loudly in the background just to celebrate this day! All would be in awe of Team 7 and say 'Look, there's the famous and strong Team 7 that completed a hundred mission in a week!'.<p>

That is, in Sasuke's opinion. However, once this beautiful morning devolved into a not so beautiful afternoon, Sasuke was getting a little anxious. Just a little.

"Where is our sensei?" Sasuke asked his teammates after popping his head out of the room and returning in disappointment for the tenth time.

Silence answered.

Sasuke sighed softly and sulkingly plopped himself onto the desk so that he was directly facing his two teammates. After the adrenaline of the morning had worn out, he felt a bit tired. Oh no, don't misunderstand, Sasuke was not unhappy. He was definitely happy with his teammates. Very happy. With whomever his teammate was. Really.

Sakura had this vibrant pink colour hair that looked like cotton candy although he didn't really like to eat sweet things like his aniki. She didn't smile enough though.

Naruto was…..

Naruto was quiet and calm.

Sasuke was sure he would get along just fantastically with his new team mates ! It was just that he had stayed up all night, thinking of his future teammates and smiling happily to himself. However, as he sat right opposite them right now, he couldn't help but feel a bit put off. Like when he expected to have fresh tomatoes as a snack but was given leftover tomatoes from the night before. Or like he certainly remembered his aniki promising to train kunai throwing with him and a day later his aniki insisted that he only promised to teach him how to bandage himself. Or like when…

"This chalk…such a beautiful while colour."

Sasuke broke out of his raging train of thoughts and blinked at Naruto who was suddenly standing in front of the white board.

Finally excited for some long awaited team interaction, Sasuke immediately jumped to his feet and scrambled to stand next to the blond boy. "Naruto-chan?" Sasuke chirped in earnest while he looked at the white chalk held in Naruo's hand. "Isn't it just white?"

Naruto's forehead furrowed in concentration as he squinted at the white chalk. "Not just white…" he dreamily replied.

And continued to stare at the while chalk without blinking his eyes for a minute.

Sasuke was a little disappointed. Just a little.

His temporary excitement crashed down like a tomato thrown down from the Hokage mountain. Spattered in red and goo on the chalk-dust-filled-floor of the empty classroom they were instructed to wait in for their never-going-to-arrive-missing-piece-of-team-seven-sensei.

What was so interesting about chalk? Flecks of white dust fell slowly and landed on his sandals as Naruto rubbed the piece of boring chunk between his fingers. Chalk couldn't talk. Couldn't give hugs. Couldn't throw a kunai. All it did was make a mess out of everything.

Sasuke had changed at the crack of dawn into his nin-clothing made by his mother by hand and had spent an hour walking back and forth in his house, smoothing down his clothes and cleaning his sandals. He even used a tooth pick to pick out every single piece of dirt riddled in his soles! He wanted to make a good impression on his future teammates and sensei. And now, that boring, flaky white dust was slowly floating its way down to his sandals….

"Naruto-chan, why don't we draw on the chalk board? I know a ton of games we can play. Have you played kunai, senbon and scroll before? Here, let me teach you…" Sasuke said determinedly, but of course in a friendly way (!), as he reached for the chalk in his teammates' hand. To Sasuke's dismay, Naruto slapped his hands away and held the chalk protectively to his chest.

"No."

No? Sasuke was shocked.

No one said no to him. Ever.

Well, maybe his aniki sometimes. Alright frequently. He always says no when Sasuke wants to train or spend time with him. Of course, Sasuke still loves his aniki.

But wait. Why no? Naruto didn't want to play with him? Was it something he did? Something he said? Was it his clothes? His shock was short lived and was quicly replaced with determination. He will show Naruto how fun it will be to play with him!

"Naruto-chan! Just give me the chalk! It will be fun, trust me!"

"Get your hands off it teme!"

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><p>Sakura swung her legs back and forth while she sat on the desk watching the two boys in front of her getting into a scuffle over a piece of chalk. To anyone looking at her expression, she looked annoyed and a step away from snatching up the white chalk and stomping on it to end the issue. However, Sakura was in fact just feeling a bit amused.<p>

Sasuke was basically towering over Naruto, one hand gripping the blond boy's shoulder down while his other hand earnestly pulled at Naruto's hand to grab the chalk while Naruto laid below him with his back against the floor, one hand holding his precious chalk out of the way while the other was fervently pushing against Sasuke's chest.

Why, this scene looked exactly like something out of those love soppy romance novels Ino liked to read. Sasuke's wide shinny eyes and increasingly growing smirk of anticipation coupled with Naruto's reddening face and obvious growing fear.

If only Sakura had a camera…

"Give it to me!"

"Never!"

Crack! There was a sound of an opening door. Sakura immediately turned her head to the entrance of the classroom and the next second, a whizzing small thing flew past and plonked itself straight into the forehead of the figure standing at the door. Sakura noticed that the man wore a green uniform. Must be their late sensei.

Sakura turned her head to look at the two boys. Both boys were staring in horror at the door, their bodies frozen in their last action. From what she could see, it would see that the sound of the opening door caught them both surprised, leading to Naruto momentarily lapse of concentration in which he lost hold of the chalk and with Sasuke's insistent pulling of his arm like a gardener pulling out a weed, the chalk flew through the air towards the direction of the door…

Yes, that was it. Sakura nodded to herself knowledgably and gave herself an invisible pat on the head.

"…My first impression? I hate you all." said the figure at the door tonelessly. He stepped forward and glanced at the still frozen entanglement of boy limbs on the floor. His quick glance at their horrified expression and the amount of chalk dust stuck to their clothes made him raise his eyebrow slightly.

"Aren't you two a little too young to engage in foreplay like that? Children these days.."

Sakura gave a subtle cough and winced in pain immediately afterwards.

* * *

><p>This day couldn't possibly be worse for Naruto. If he had just failed the stupid test as planned, he probably would be off in some woods collecting leaves or up in some tree staring at clouds. Not sitting with some idiot on some cold, rough granite ground. And that idiot tried to take his chalk away from him. And what happened? All that was left of it was pieces spewed over a classroom floor. Naruto scrubbed the ground his foot repeatedly, pretending that some silly smiling face was right under it when suddenly, the very ground he was grinding caught his attention.<p>

Granite ground? An idea suddenly came to his mind. He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small chunk of chalk. It was what remained of his precious chalk after it went kamikaze into the man's forehead. Naruto lifted it to his eye and squinted. It should be enough. He then lowered his head and proceeded to draw on the granite ground.

Stupid teme. Naruto thought vehemently to himself. What was the point of drawing squiggles on the white board and play games? That was not art and a waste of chalk. Art was to create things that only the creator would understand and leave others to scratch their head in confusion.

Nartuo drew a swirl and blots and lines, whatever that came to his mind on the ground.

Now that's art.

* * *

><p>Kakashi felt tired. No, seriously. He really felt world weary. As if someone throw the burden of the whole word on his shoulder. He know knew why the kages wore that ridiculous headdress. It covered their drooping shoulders no doubt caused by the endless headaches of everyday disasters.<p>

"Sensei! Sensei!" tweeted the black hair boy as he lifted his head earnestly like a baby bird begging for food. "All you told us was your name!"

Kakashi coughed and looked the other way.

"Alright. Now it's your turn to introduce yourselves." He said, promptly ignoring the disappointed eyes boring holes into his book.

"Me! Me! Let me go first!"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the little squirt who was impatiently raising his hand.

Without waiting for any approval, the boy bounced up and starting chattering cheerfully.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke! I love my friends, my family, especially my aniki, who is a healer at the hospital. He is the best ninja in the world and I want to be just like him. He used to be in ANBU but now he is a medic yet he still manages to be strong and even helps out in high ranked missions! I want to be just like him but I don't want to do it myself but with my team. We are going to become chunnin and then jounin or perhaps just jump straight to ANBU and do S class missions and then at the same time we are going to train in healing jitsu so that we would be able to finish our mission and heal ourselves at the same time, just like aniki! I bet that we will surpass my aniki in no time and one day my aniki and I will be in the same team and we will complete the highest ranked mission and become the strongest team of all the nations and…"

Kakashi lifted his books to his eyes and sighed loudly.

"Ah yes, I have heard of you." Kakashi said loudly but could barely be heard above the boy's non-stop chitter chatter. "You are that hyper Uchiha kid."

"…and I love tomatoes but I prefer them raw because when they are cooked, they sort of lose that nice juicy raw flavor I like so I always ask okasan to just chop them up onto the plate. Sensei, you mean you have heard of me already?"

Kakashi quickly closed his book and patted, no, squished the Uchiha chatterbox on the head, forcing him to sit down and stop talking.

"Yes, well. Alright, who is next?"

Kakashi was not even a bit surprised when no one answered him. The blond kid had his head bowed down and was scribbling something all over the floor while the pink haired girl sat there watching him with a poker face.

He could feel the Uchiha kid trembling under his book, who was still being firmly pushed down to the floor, no doubt itching to inform him of every single life fact of his teammates.

Why me, Hokage-sama.? Kakashi thought to himself wearily. "Alright. You, blond boy."

As expected, there was no response except for quiet scratching sounds against the pavement.

In the end, Kakashi just yanked up the blond boy's hood to stop him and finally got a name, who gave him an annoyed look and muttered a name before his eyes were glued back onto the….whatever-it-was-in-white-chalk on the ground.

Yes, Kakashi knew everything about Naruto beforehand. He wasn't that dense. Really. He even heard of the current 2nd black sheep of the Uchiha clan, right after Shisui. The Sasuke kid could literally give Shisui a run for his money very soon. Kakashi was thankful that the last member of his genin team seemed somewhat normal.

Alright. Fine. Haruno Sakura was comparatively normal to Naruto and Sasuke. That is, if you disregard her answers to his 'What do you like and hate' question.

"Hate trees."

"Hate helping people."

Something that looked like a frown appeared on her stoic face and Kakashi swear he saw her flick her eyes at the blond-boy-engrossed-in-the-floor. Was that a glare? Was there some animosity between the two? Kakashi recalled giving his student's background sheet a glance. There was no mention of any feud between any of them.

And just when Kakashi was planning to wrap up this dreadful day as quick as possible, the little jinchuriki just had to open his trap right at that moment.

"Sakura, can I have a piece of your hair? It would look great with my latest project at home. Pink Dragonfly on Mudpie Avenue."

Kakashi wondered if the 4th Hokage would rot in his grave if he knew his son was being head smashed into a tree by a pink haired girl while a Uchiha boy cheered from the side shouting "Go Team 7!".

Well at least the 'violent tendency' on Sakura's sheet was accurate.

* * *

><p>Sakura was seriously considering going into the library and thoroughly perusing all the rules and regulations regarding genin teams. She wanted out.<p>

Naruto was fine, really. Alright, he wasn't fine all the time. The fact that he wanted to take her hair and shove it into some mud pudding did not go well with her. Mind you, Sakura would have loved to cut off her hair, but her mother loved her hair very much and would practically cry if she lost a single strand.

Sasuke? Sasuke was plain too noisy and nosy.

Sakura had high hopes for her sensei. Genin team senseis were always jounins, one of the elites of the ninja village. She heard quite a lot about jounins and ANBUs from the Uchiha boy (which was basically 'My aniki skipped jounin. My aniki used to be ANBU. My aniki is a healer.')

Now, she wondered if the Hokage paid a small amount of money for people to be genin team leaders. A very small amount.

The day after being introduced to her teammates and her sensei, her sensei subjected them to a test involving two bells. All three immediately went in search of a spot to hide. Sakura situated herself near some larges bushes. She preferred not to hide in a tree. Yes she hated trees but no that was not why she wasn't hiding in one like her other teammates were likely doing.

She preferred bushes.

Bushes were closer to the ground.

Besides, most ninjas would automatically check the trees first for an ambush.

She was ready to wait patiently for an opportunity. Unfortunately, Sasuke was the first to break out. After an hour of watching her sensei Kakashi stand in the middle of the clearing reading some sort of book, Sasuke popped out of the tree next to her and blew a ball of flame at him.

And then proceeded to shout out "Alright Sakura-chan, Naruto-chan, time to show him our team moves!"

Obviously neither Naruto nor herself decided to answer his call. She wasn't surprised when Kakashi performed a jetsu and Sasuke was suddenly buried into the ground, leaving only his head to stare indignantly at Kakashi.

Sakura inwardly sighed at the scene. And she thought great ninja clans taught their children better.

In the end, Kakashi called a break to this test and tied Sasuke to a pillar while giving two lunch boxes to Naruto and her before poofing away to kami knows where.

Sakura stared glumly at her lunch box with grilled squid (too chewy), broccoli (too chewy) and red rice (too chewy). She could feel her jaw cry in agony at the prospect of some hard chewing and shivered. Sakura lifted her lunch box to a sniffling Sasuke, indicting with her head that he should have it all. She saw Naruto from the corner of her eye placing the lunch box on the ground near Sasuke and heard him mumbling about going for ramen since they weren't going to pass the test anyway.

Just when Sakura planned to drag Naruto back by the collar, their sensei proofed into existence with crinkled eyes (his mouth was non-existent due to being covered by some cloth) and announced that they had team spirit.

Both Sakura and Naruto stared at Kakashi with confusion while Sasuke cheered vibrantly from his post.

That was why the Hokage gave out genin teams for money. The Hokage didn't pay people to be a team leader. Oh no, obviously, mentally retarded people paid the Hokage money instead to be a team leader.

One big family of happy mentally retarded people. Just the way Sasuke wanted.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Announcing, the great Aniki!

* * *

><p>Yet another beautiful day. With white clouds and a cheerfully blue sky. The type that made you want to throw a blanket at it all and hope it goes brawling away in tears so that you could go back to sleep.<p>

Naruto remembered those days very well. Before he discovered the meaning of life. Waking up every day, wondering why he was alive, why life was like this. Just…why.

"Save me! I am lost in the laundry!"

Yes. Why? Why was he sitting here with his pink haired teammate watching his idiot third teammate somehow managing to get himself tangled in the white bed sheets. Their gennin mission was only to collect the laundry and fold them up neatly.

Really. Why?

Naruto scratched his unruly hair tiredly and turned to look at Sakura who was watching Sasuke. She seemed to have a perplexed expression as she watched Sasuke trip and fall onto the floor. But then, she always looked the same every day.

Having known Sakura for some years, Naruto had some understanding of her personality, or lack of one. Sakura was not the type to help others, sometimes, he swore she was glaring at him and gave him punches purposely that hurt a lot more than usual. It wasn't as if she lazed around ( like himself) or held back (like himself) or not do her part at all in missions (like himself). However, Naruto prided himself in an uncanny 6th sense when it came to people. Sakura was…well….she did things to the book and given a chance, she would stand on the sidelines and maybe watch a rabbit die instead of helping it.

Extreme opposite of the bouncing rabbit.

But then, Naruto wouldn't call himself a giving person either.

And someone had to fix that mess in front of him or they would be sitting in the same spot for the rest of the day. And kami knew that it was not going to be him.

"Are you going to do something about that?" Naruto asked Sakura as he tilted his head towards the hyper kid who was now rolling onto the ground in glee, making the once white bed sheets covered in dirt and grass. A sharp contrast to the neatly folded stack of clothes sitting in the basket next to her. All that remained was the linen that idiot was parading about in.

Instead she tilted her head to the left and gave him a look that read clearly: Why don't you?

Naruto rolled his eyes in reply.

A puff of smoke that suddenly appeared in front of them announced the arrival of their ever absent sensei.

"Well what do we have here? A tangled up Uchiha. Not sure if Fugaku-sama would be happy to see that." Kakashi stated after surveying the scene.

Naruto swore that Sasuke give a twitch despite the layers of linen.

"Come one Sasuke, play time is over. Time to finish up and go home."

Sasuke wriggled out of the bundle of cloth with a pout on his face. "You all are no fun at all." And then whisked out of sight with the dirtied bed sheet. Being as they all were, Kakashi stood there reading a novel while Naruto and Sakura continued to sit there minding their own business. Within 5 minutes, the Uchiha boy came storming back with a wet but clean bed sheet. He stopped in front of his two teammates, gave a grin with flashing teeth, threw up the wet and heavy bed sheet with shocking strength and then proceeded to perform a fire jitsu that spewed flames out of his mouth, almost instantly drying the bed sheet.

Naruto raised his eyebrow at the scene. That was a bit impressive. He watched as Sasuke jumped into the sky and folded the falling bed sheet quickly and placed it into the bundle with the others and took off back to the house where their mission-giver lived.

Within thirty seconds, he was back panting slightly but with a huge grin that was screaming for compliments.

"Good work Sasuke. Looks like Itachi taught his young brother well."

Sasuke immediately widened his eyes and turned to his sensei. " Sensei! You know my aniki? How did you know he was the one who taught me that evaporation jitsu? Were you both in the same team? But my aniki never mentioned you before. Was it because you were teammates in ANBU? As that would explain why he didn't mention you. Can you tell more about ANBU? Aniki never tells me anything and …"

"Alright. Yes, well, I have something to announce." Kakashi quickly patted Sasuke's head with his novel (with some force), hoping to find the switch to shut him up.

Both Naruto and Sakura got up to stand next to their bubbling teammate who was sprouting something along the lines of "An announcement? What's going to happen? Are we going to be given an A class mission? I knew we were good enough for it! Wait till I tell my aniki!"

"Tomorrow morning, you are all going back to school."

"What?" Both Naruto and Sasuke shouted in shock, while Sakura only raised her eyebrows to express the same feelings.

"Compulsory first aid training." Kakashi said with a twinkle in his eyes, obviously amused.

And amused was not how Sakura felt at all the next morning. She sat between a yawning Nartuo and a twitching Sasuke who was going on about something she did not care to listen.

She was currently sitting inside the large Academy halls with genin groups from not only her year, but the previous years. The whole hall was buzzing with whispers. Sakura could see Ino talking animatedly to her group mates and Kiba looking bored.

Sakura preferred not to be here at all. She wasn't interested in first aid or healing. No, it had nothing to do with her dislike of the hospital. Not much anyway. She just rather kill everything faster than it could harm her and everyone would be happy.

First aid had never been a part of their academy training all these years, so Sakura was confused as to the reason for this seemingly impromptu class.

Sasuke interrupted her thoughts by sticking his face right in front of her. "Aren't you excited Sakura chan?" Sakura pushed him away with her finger and shook her head silently.

"Why not?" Sasuke widened his eyes shock. "We are going to learn all about bandages, disinfection, simple remedies, medicines and healing jitsu!"

Sakura watched him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. Sasuke also watched expectably back at her.

"Well, aren't you going to ask me how I know all of this?"

Ah, so that was the plan. Sakura turned her head to look at Nartuo, who was currently staring at the ceiling with this weird smile.

"I can tell you if you want…" whispered Sasuke as he hovered around her ear.

Sakura was just about to teach the annoying twit the meaning of personal space when someone came into the picture. Loudly

"Sasuke-kun, tell me! I would love to know!" Ino had somehow eavesdropped on their conversation, sneaked to stand in front of them and seemed to want to push Sakura away from her seat but was stopped with by a killer death glare. Ino had all the makings of a great ninja, really. Information gathering, stealth and a value for one's own life.

Never the one to reject attention, Sasuke immediately turned around and gave Ino a brilliant smile. "Well, of course I can tell you Ino-chan! I know Sakura-chan is a bit shy to ask, but I know she would love to know too! Why, the only reason why I know all of this is because…"

Sasuke was cut off by the sound of the room door smacked open.

"Alright all of you, sit down! Your instructor has arrived. Ino, get your butt back down here with your group!" Iruka sensei barked. After waiting for a few moments for everyone to settle down, Iruka coughed loudly while he stepped aside from the door.

"Class, meet your teacher today. Uchiha Itachi, one of the head medic of Konoha Hospital."

Uchiha Itachi smoothed his white robe before stepping through the open door. He gave a small nod to Iruka who bowed respectfully at the side.

Within a wink of an eye, he appeared on the small stage situated right in front of all the gennins and quickly surveyed the room. He immediately spotted his ototo, who was currently trying very hard to not to jump up and down and shout out his name. It would seem that Sasuke required some more self-control training. The blond sitting near him was the jinchuriki teammate while the pink haired girl was the other one. Ah yes, he remembered her.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi, Ex-ANBU and currently one of the head medics of Konoha. I am the course leader and today, I will give you a brief introduction to this gennin course on healing and first aid. Later on you will be divided into groups and shall meet once a week with your respective instructor and receive further training until we are satisfied with your knowledge and skills. Any questions?"

Of course, no one had any question. His ototo knew most of the syllabus already while the other students were staring at him with different expressions. Itachi noticed the few that watched him with a calculated look. Those were children from the more well-known ninja clans. Of course they would have heard of his background.

"We are a profession regulated rigidly by rank. Ranks are earned upon skill and achievement. You are all well acquainted with general ninja ranks. The ranking system for medics is similar. Clinical medic, field medic, operations medic and head medic. Clinical medics are more suited in hospital environments while field and operations medics are trained to accompany teams out for missions with the latter for higher ranked mission. Head medics supervise and train all hospital staff in addition to aiding field work. Take note that not all medics are ninjas as some are only suitable for non-dangerous clinical work"

Itachi then tapped a large scroll that was hung up on the wall and charts spilled out in ink.

"Before you are the main fields under healing. Take note that this includes non-chakra methods such as first aid, medicines…."

After using an hour to go through the different fields of medicine and how they were used in action, he woke up the dozing class and assigned each genin group to go to a specific place to meet their medic mentor.

Itachi decided to personally take over his ototo's group, thus saving the trouble of the other medics to keep Sasuke's mouth shut. Besides, it would be easier to tutor two instead of three genins given Sasuke's skills in the area.

As Itachi walked towards the scheduled meeting areas at the training grounds, he could hear the familiar chattering of his brother's voice.

"Did you know that before aniki became a medic, there were less than twenty medics on the whole ninja force! Ever since aniki took over, we have at least 5 medics qualifying each year! We currently have a rough total of around 30 clinical medics, 20 field medics, 10 operations medics and 5 head medics! That's not even including non-medic hospital personnel! And a lot of the field and operation medics are in fact chunins and jounins and our ninja cell teams are in fact the most well balanced teams of all ninja villages and…"

Itachi quickly stepped forward to his blabbering ototo and placed a hand firmly down on his head.

"That's enough." Itachi toned with a touch of sternness in his voice.

Sasuke immediately turned red and looked sheepish. Itachi gave another firm press before motioning all of them to sit down on the ground. It would seem that Sasuke needed another stern lecture on self-control.

"In order to effectively train all ninjas regarding basic medical methods and possible healing jitsu, we single out potential medics as early as possible. Today, I would be testing your preliminary potential to heal using chakra."

Itachi watched them with a careful eye. The blond jinchuriki, Naruto he believed, tilted his head and was giving him with an odd look. The pink haired female was silently watching him with polite attention. Sasuke was trembling with anticipation as usual.

Somewhat satisfied that he had their attention, Itachi then proceeded to slowly go through the signs for the simplest healing jitsu and a warm green glow enveloped his hands.

He could see that all of their eyes go round in interest and gave himself a small smile.

"These are the hand signs for a simple diagnostic jitsu." Itachi said solemnly after a few moments. "Once you believe you are capable, focus yourself on detecting unnatural chakra reaction in a body and perform the jitsu."

Itachi then quietly watched the three genins obey his instructions.

An hour later, his ototo large eyes were on the verge of breaking out into tears.

"Aniki! I tried! I really tried! But nothing happened! What's wrong? Is there something wrong with me? Am I performing the hand signs wrongly? Does healing jitsu require a different type of chakra?"

Ignoring his brother's rambling, Itachi turned to look at the other two unsuccessful gennins. Naruto seemed bored and not at all concerned that he couldn't perform the jitsu as he sat with his hands loosely in his lap. The pink haired girl, however, seemed a bit troubled as he saw her furrow her eyebrows slightly as she stared at her hands which were still mimicking the hand signs he taught.

Knowing the deeper complexity of his brother's personality, Itachi was not surprised at Sasuke's unsuccessful attempt. He had even anticipated Naruto's lackluster performance. However, he was surprised at the girl's lack of even a tinge of green forming at her hands. According to his experience, at least one out of three of each gennin team would be able to produce some sort of healing chakra. Despite the harsh life of a ninja, it was peaceful times now and young children of Konoha were not yet affected much by the cruel and realistic world outside of the gate and were still innocent and kind hearted. Especially females.

This showed a lot about this team. Itachi did not envy Kakashi at all.

"That's enough." Itachi gave Sasuke a look which immediately quieted him down.

"This jitsu is performable with your usual chakra focusing technique taught in ninja academy. The main focus of the test was to assess those who have the required temperament for healing chakra. Namely, to be willing to give freely unconditionally and without an intent to harm. This is a test for your subconscious which cannot be faked easily. "

Itachi stood up and dusted his pants. " I am afraid all three of you are unable to fulfill this requirement. Future lessons shall focus on non-chakra related healing techniques until proven otherwise. I shall leave you to your sensei."

And with a quick nod to one of the trees nearby, Itachi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Well, that went well. " said Kakashi, as he slid down from his hiding spot to stand in front of his team.

As expected, Sasuke was sniffing pitifully with his eyes and nose red. Naruto was already zoning out and Sakura seemed to look a bit confused.

Kakashi knew what Itachi meant. He basically said that the three of them were selfish heartless brats. Which was not surprising given that Kakashi had been their sensei for some months. He patted the weeping Uchiha boy on the head and immediately stepped sideward when the boy tried to latch onto him.

However, this uncaring attitude was not the way of fire taught by the Hokage.

Kakashi sighed loudly as he dismissed his team. He was not looking forward to the lecture he would receive from the Hokage and the series of training he and his team would have to go through as a result of this 'assessment'.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 A little bird**

* * *

><p>The warmth of the day was slowing fading away. The sky had darkened to a reddish purple, like a large bruise that you knew people were going to notice and wonder for weeks what you did to deserve it.<p>

A very big, noticeable bruise.

Failures were like bruises to Sakura. Fat, sickly bruises plastered over her face. She admitted that she was some sort of a perfectionist.

They failed. All of them failed. It didn't matter if Sasuke and Naruto failed. The fact was, she failed. What went wrong? She was positive that she remembered each and every sign with the half second delay in between each one.

A wail broke her concentration. Sakura blinked and realized that she had been standing in the fields with her fists clenched tightly ever since their sensei had left. She looked at her teammates. Sasuke was the obvious source of the cry that could break a thousand mirrors. The boy was currently alternating between looking up the sky and shouting "Why me?" and stomping around in circles while rubbing his red eyes. Naruto was sitting under a large tree nearby, fiddling with a piece of dried leaf while glazing listlessly at the sky above.

Sakura took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Easy there. Just need to go to the library and read it up. She must have gotten the theory wrong.

"Sakura! What did we do wrong? I am positive that I did everything aniki did!" bursted Sasuke as he started to gesture frankly at the sky.

"Willingness to give unconditionally? Of course I am willing. Every time someone asks me to help with their homework or when an old lady needs to cross the street or when Oka-san needs help with groceries or when some of my cousins want to have a friendly match but I don't understand why they always aim for my face or when a cute kitty is stuck in a tree which doesn't make sense as most of the kittens are nin-cats….and I would never even harm a fly or a cat or a horse or a person!"

Sasuke was obviously a lost cause as he started to pull on his hair and seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating.

Sakura sighed and rubbed her temples. It was obvious that they were didn't take failure easily. Sakura turned her head to look at Naruto who was currently tearing up pieces of dried leaves and throwing them into the air.

Wait, cross that out, two out of three. Naruto didn't seem to care at all.

It suddenly struck Sakura that since they became teammates, this was the first time they stayed back after being dismissed by their sensei. Usually, Sakura and Naruto would turn around and ignore Sasuke's shrieks for after-mission-happy-session, creepy and it sounds.

It took a few moments for the revelation to sink in. And to be dismissed.

"Leaving." Was all she stoically announced as she turned around and stomped home. The library was likely closed anyway.

* * *

><p>"All hail, the great medicnin! Fearless! Regal! Without fault! The one and only…..Uchiha Ita…Ouch! That hurt Itachi!"<p>

Itachi gave another bash on the back of Shisui's head just for good measure.

"Permitting you to join me does not equate to permission to broadcast my presence. Be silent." Itachi said as he quickly walked towards Konoha Administrative Building.

Once they arrived, Shisui followed Itachi 's lead and they both hid in the musty and dark rafters. Shisui had to try hard not to sneeze at the stench.

Why are we here. Shisui signed in ANBU sign language. Itachi paused for a second and then nodded towards the floor below them where the Hokage and some other administrative workers sat while ninjas came in and out. This was the room where the Hokage would assign missions.

After waiting for 10 minutes, Shisui was about to ask Itachi why they were there when suddenly, Shisui heard a very familiar chirpy yet irritating voice echo throughout the building. On reflex, he shuddered. It didn't take a Uchiha to be able to recognize that voice.

"Yes! The great team 7 has accomplished yet another mission! What's the next one?"

The whole of Konoha village had a love/hate relationship with that little twit named Sasuke, including Shisui. If only he could jump down and start pulling at those adorable cheeks and maybe feed some cotton candy that would glue his lips together, the world would be a better place.

In came a bouncing figure who raced over to pose victoriously in front of the Hokage. A few moments later, a few more people walked into the room at a much more leisurely albeit resigned pace.

The Hokage took a look at Sasuke's victory pose and chuckled heartily before taking a puff from his pipe. "What mission was your team assigned?"

Even from the rafters, Shisui could see little Sasuke puff up his chest like a peacock about to outshine the rest of the world with his oh so lovely feathers.

"D rank mission. We were assigned the duty to watch over the children in the orphanage and take them out to the playground!"

"Interesting." The Hokage said has he puffed out another cloud of white smoke. "Tell me young Uchiha, what other missions have you completed in this month?"

A single question lead to a gushing river-like reply.

"Yesterday we rounded all stray animals from the civilian sector for baths and brought them to the vet for injections the day before we helped out at the farms outside the village the day before that we helped sweep the main streets and the day before that we helped bake bread for gave them out for free in the village market and in the previous week we did the laundry for the hospital and…" Sasuke spurted happily while he waved his hands around for good measure.

A book appeared on top of Sasuke's head and firmly pressed down. To Shisui's amazement, the little chatterbox actually closed his mouth, ending the awful chatter with a tearful look at his sensei. It would seem that this was a practised routine.

Good job Kakashi. Shishui thought to himself in relief. I should use that trick from now on.

"Hokage-sama, if you don't mind me asking, what is the purpose of this question? Other than to torture our ears." Kakashi asked as he scratched his head tiredly.

The Hokage coughed loudly and gave a quick look at the rafter, in other words, where Itachi and Shisui were secretly hiding, and turned back to give team 7 a resigned look.

" A….. little bird informed me that you have done your fair share of charity work and should go on to something more complex to train your…..ah….hidden skill for selfless sharing and caring."

The black haired bundle of sorrow moved forward, no doubt in preparation to squeal in happiness and accept the wonderful gift, when suddenly, one of the silent members of the group roughly pushed him to the side and took his place instead.

"Well maybe that little bird should have TOLD YOU THAT FORCING ALL GENIN TEAMS WHO FAILED TO PERFORM SOME HEALING JUTSU TO DO MISSIONS FOR FREE ISN'T THE BEST IDEA IN THE WORLD DO YO KNOW HOW MUCH RAMEN I HAVE EATEN THIS MONTH? NONE! I CAN TELL YOU WHERE YOU CAN SHOVE YOUR CHARITY.. OUCH! "

The blond boy who had started to vent at the Hokage hysterically was suddenly punched in the back forcefully (with so much force that the boy tipped forward and crashed into the ground, oddly sending bits of paper and brushes all over the place, Shisui noted) by a petite little girl with pink hair.

Sasuke, his jaw wide open, pointed at her in shock. "Sakura! How..how could you? Nartuo is our teammate, you can't just push him like that. He is part of the team, this is bad for team spirit, you hear me? Bad! How are we going to complete further missions like this? We need to work together and keep a healthy working relationship…"

Sakura vehemently poked her finger into Sasuke's chest, making him move a step back in fear. "You. Shut up." She hoarsely whispered. She then proceeded to place her right foot on Naruto's back and pushed down hard . "You. Respect the Hokage."

Little Sasuke's female teammate was….beyond sannin. Shisui watched with awe at her as she bowed to the Hokage and murmured an apology on behalf of her team mates while Kakashi sighed loudly. Mother had always said violence was the cure to unruly children, including himself.

The Hokage gave all three team mates hard looks, including Naruto who had decided to just sit on the floor and ignore everyone. "Right. Coming back to the topic, is team 7 ready to accept a C rank mission? No charity work this time. You will be paid."

C rank mission? Shisui looked to his cousin in confusion as he signed for an explanation but received no reply. Was this part of the little bird's plan?

After watching team 7's agreement to accept the mission, mainly Sasuke while the rest of the team did not comment, and meeting their hirer, Shisui and Itachi left the building and started heading back to their home compound.

"So what gives? Shouldn't the little bird be worried that Team 7 might not be able to handle a C rank mission?" Shisui finally asked as they sprinted across roof tops as Itachi had ignored his pointed looks.

"The little bird believes that something more difficult and dangerous may be the cure to awaken ignorant gennins of their wayward thinking." Itachi replied carefully with a warning look .

Shisui sniggered at Itachi's comment. Such a dotting big brother yet unwilling to display his affections like a normal person.

"The little bird should give up being a medicnin and become a fortune teller instead hey Itachi! How many times do I have to do tell you not to hit me on the head? You are not my mom and you have no right to hey! Stop it!"

* * *

><p>Kakashi sighed for the umpteenth since he became the leader of Team 7 as he trudged along the village road towards the direction of the entrance to meet his students.<p>

Life was tiring. Being a nin was tiring. Missions were tiring. Moving was tiring. And...isn't that Naruto at the ramen stand?

Ten minutes later, Kakashi, in tow with Nartuo who was being dragged by his collar, was greeted by an energetic Uchiha kid and the stoic yet fearfully strong female student.

"Morning kids. I found Nartuo having a after breakfast snack at the ramen store and had drag him over." Kakashi said as he dumped Naruto on the floor.

A man walked out from under the shade of a tree, tsking loudly along the way. Tazuna, their mission objective, glared at Kakashi with distain.

"Half of the team is an hour late. I wonder if hiring you bunch of lazy people was a good idea." He mumbled as he pulled his straw hat down angrily.

"Well sir, you don't have much of a choice as the Land of Wave doesn't have a nin village." Said Sasuke righteously. He then turned around and pointed forward. "All right Team 7, I spent the whole night reading the maps and guidebooks to the Land of Waves. I know the fastest route there and all various stop points and towns and tourist attractions along the way! Let's go! "

"Hey kid, this isn't a holiday…" Kakashi's warning fell to deaf ears as Sasuke speeded off at the speed of light while Tazuna trailed behind, huffing to himself.

As Kakashi watched Sakura give Naruto a firm kick to get him to stand up, Kakashi prayed to any gods above that their mission would be as trouble-free as possible. Somehow, he had a bad bad feeling. The same bad feeling he had when he first met his team.

Maybe a white rabbit would appear and start a series of unfortunate events leading up to rogue nins and maybe saving a whole country from destruction. Kakashi thought mournfully to himself as he followed his team from the back.

Damn, now he sounded like Uchiha Itachi. The whole village knew how much of a hard time Uchiha Shisui gave his cousin for sounding like a fortune teller.


End file.
